Curve play a hit on YouTube

July 9, 2013

Curve broadcaster Mike Passanisi probably delivered one of the best play-by-play calls in franchise history.

It wasn't even of something that happened on the field.

In a game on Sunday, a routine foul ball was hit into a suite box right next to the Curve Radio Network booth.

The foul ball landed directly into a cup holder. It didn't bounce off of anything. It didn't have a magnet inside of the ball or in the cup holder.

It landed directly into a first-row cup holder over a concrete barrier, and Passanisi called it all.

"I happened to be sitting there, and there was a ball, a foul ball," Passanisi, who is in his fourth season calling games for the Curve, said. "It just went into the cup holder. It was more of a shock factor if anything else. "

Luckily for fans listening in and others doubtful of the ball landing in the cup holder, there was a video of it.

That video went viral, appearing on several websites including popular sports blogs Deadspin, Bleacher Report and both Minor League and Major League Baseball's websites. As of 7:30 on Monday night, the video had more than 16,000 views on YouTube.

"Either way it's a great feat, I don't know, I think it's funny," Passanisi said. "I think it's something people are liking. I have friends in California who are like 'dude, you made Deadspin.'"

Passanisi let out a loud "Whoa" when he realized what he had seen. He also called the ball, fouled off by Erie's Brandon Douglas, "tremendous." All of this was said live on radio.

Curve staffer Justin Rhodes was able to capture it all on film.

"You see some strange foul balls, but nothing near something like that," broadcast partner Nate Bowen said. "I'm not even sure how it got in there."

Passanisi wanted to get a picture of it, but a fan in a neighboring suite simply walked up and pulled the ball out of the cup holder.

"I couldn't really see it but Mike's reaction let me know that something amazing had happened by his tone of voice," Bowen said. "I didn't know at first what that noise was, but once he said the ball landed in the cup, I think he said cup holder quite a few times. That clarified what had happened. "

Bowen said he has seen a ball land into a cup holder before, but never over the concrete wall at the suite level.

Passanisi said he had never seen anything like it before. He has seen some people catch foul balls in cups and popcorn buckets.

"It's literally one of those one-in-10,000 chances - maybe more - to have it land directly in a cup holder and rattle around," Passanisi said.